HostPapa: Our Review

Part of an increasing number of Web hosting providers who have made the move to ecologically-friendly hosting, HostPapa is focused on providing shared, reseller, and mobile hosting options with distinctly “green” flavor.

Features

HostPapa offers the two basic levels of hosting: Shared (called “Web Hosting” by HostPapa) and Reseller. The company also offers a mobile website upgrade for an additional monthly fee. HostPapa relies on Linux-based servers for both tiers of service, and uses the popular “unlimited everything” model for resource allotment.

HostPapa’s shared-level hosting is not priced by plans or features, but by the amount of hosting purchased at one time (the longer your contract, the lower your monthly fee). It comes with a fairly standard pro-rated 30-day money-back guarantee.

You can also add the power of Google Apps to your site for an additional fee. Google Apps gives you access to custom Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar and many other enhanced productivity tools made by Google, but branded for your site. Integrating Google Apps with your site will add a one-time fee of $149 to $999 (depending on your needs); 24/7/365 support, a dedicated account representative, and additional training options can be purchased for an additional per-user monthly fee.

Reseller Hosting Features

If you’re interested in becoming an eco-friendly hosting provider yourself, HostPapa offers five reseller hosting plans (ranging from “Bronze” to “Titanium”) that just might fit the bill. This tier is also “shared” hosting, and includes the same features as shared plans, but with a few additions and modifications:

Unlimited* hosted domains and sub-domains

Up to 200 GB of drive space

Support for up to 1.4 TB of bandwidth

All the other features of shared hosting plans

A free domain reseller account

Private name servers

Free SohoLaunch site builder software for your customers

Three dedicated IP addresses

Brandable cPanel client control panels with Softaculous

Automatic backups

Free license for WHM as well as cPanel (for managing both your customer accounts/content and your site, respectively)

Like its standard hosting plan, HostPapa’s reseller plans are covered by their 30-day money-back guarantee. Resellers also gain access to HostPapa’s online reseller support portal, which contains additional text and video tutorials.

Mobile Hosting Features

Adding a modest fee to your monthly hosting bill (or possibly even replacing it) HostPapa’s goMobi service enables you to create a mobile site from scratch, or “mobilize” your existing website for optimal mobile performance and user-friendliness.

Mobile hosting optimizes your site for mobile use, adding device-friendly features like one-click calling, social media integration, and icon-based navigation to your site. The goMobi setup application is fully customizable, and will auto-populate with information from your existing site (where applicable).

Benefits Breakdown

The Good

HostPapa is committed to keeping both its online and ecological footprint small. Its offerings are limited, but its standard shared hosting package contains a surprisingly substantial feature set and is competitively priced with larger competitors.

The company’s “100% green” hosting is a welcome touch for ecologically responsible clients, and the ability to boost the vanilla hosting options with value-added features like Google Apps and mobile optimization makes for an appealingly “cutting edge” feeling.

The 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7/365 standard support options are fairly run-of-the-mill, but still a pleasant addition to this modestly-sized hosting provider’s offerings.

The Not-So-Good

The same economy of size and scope that make HostPapa an intriguingly offbeat choice also make it difficult for those who require serious power for their websites to host their sites with this scrappy provider.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) and dedicated hosting options are completely absent, and while Linux servers remain the most common variety for hosting providers around the globe, those looking for increasingly-popular Windows hosting are flat out of luck.

Also, while the ability to add services via Google Apps and goMobi is attractive, the initial investment for the former can be quite substantial if you’re just starting out, and the versatility and appeal of the latter can be difficult to maximize if you don’t already have a site or are unfamiliar with the mobile web.

HostPapa is a strong contender in the market niche it’s carved out, but be sure you don’t miss the forest for the trees.